Fighting for Kids, One Mile at a Time with The "Praying Ninja Warrior"

Episode Summary:
What if every mile you ran was a prayer for a sick child? In this deeply inspiring episode of the Faithful Fitness Podcast, Coach Alex sits down with ultra-endurance athlete and founder of the Praying Ninja Warrior Foundation, Nick Apicella.

Together, they explore how prayer, suffering, and radical endurance can become powerful expressions of faith, love, and support for children facing life-threatening illness. Nick shares his recent completion of the grueling Tahoe 200—a 200-mile ultra-marathon run in honor of over 900 children battling cancer and rare diseases.

But this isn’t about medals or personal records. It’s about sacrifice. It's about holding space for suffering. It's about carrying the weight of grief, hope, and intercession with every step. Listeners will hear raw stories of loss and healing, including families impacted by pediatric cancer, the miracle of a unified praying community, and how prayer itself can draw us into deeper dependence on God—even when the outcome isn't what we hoped.

Main Discussion Themes:
 The spiritual and physical burden of running 200 miles in intercession
 Founding Praying Ninja Warrior Foundation to support families of sick children
 When prayer doesn’t “work” the way we want—and how faith still holds
 Biblical endurance: running with perseverance the race set before us (Hebrews 12)
 Why suffering isn’t the end of the story for those in Christ
 The September 20th race and how to join virtually or in person
 Carrying hope, grief, and God’s love through action

⏱️ Timestamped Episode Outline

00:00 – Intro & Nick’s 1 a.m. hill runs before a 3 a.m. shift
06:00 – Running 100 miles in prayer: the birth of Praying Ninja Warrior
11:00 – Stories from the field: prayers that changed lives—and saved them
17:00 – The Tahoe 200: what it is, why it matters, how God led
24:00 – Mentors, pacers, and divine encounters along the trail
30:00 – Physical preparation meets spiritual warfare: pain, pacing, and provision
36:00 – Losing children, loving families: grief and hope as intercession
42:00 – Alex shares Izzy’s story and how grief led him to faith
49:00 – What it means to walk in suffering with God
54:00 – The September 20th 5K and Half Marathon: how to join and why it matters
57:00 – Rapid fire: blisters, tacos, Tahoe lung, and divine recovery
61:00 – Hebrews 12 and the “cloud of witnesses” who carried Nick through
66:00 – Prayer, benediction, and a call to run with purpose

Show Resources:
 Visit  https//:Faithfulfitnessdevo.com to explore the Faithful Fitness Devotional
 Race Signup: September 20th (5K / Half Marathon / Virtual) - Praying Ninja Warrior Benefit Race  Can't make it in person? Register for the virtual race and run wherever you are!
 https://www.prayingninjawarrior.com/
 Subscribe and share the Faithful Fitness Podcast with someone walking through suffering or looking to serve through their fitness

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/faithful-fitness-by-better-daily--5150768/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Faithful Fitness Podcast for my Dad. Coach
Alex Van Houghton helps you get stronger and mind, body
and spirit. He believes that your body is a temple,
so taking good care of it is an actual worship.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
I should know.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
I live with him every week. He brings truth from
the Bible too, of some science and stories that will
set your heart on fire. May God bless you to
become everything He made you to be, just one percent
better every single day.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
What's up, guys, This is coach Alex Vann Houghton on
the Faithful Fitness Podcast. I'm joined by mister Nick Appachello.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
What's up, brother? How you doing this Thursday?

Speaker 4 (00:37):
Bless brother blussed, same man, same.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
You were telling me that you got up at one
this morning to train. Can you tell us about that
before we get into our conversation.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
What was that about?

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Just after talker too and I'm just trying to get
some different angles on my legs and you know, he'lls
make you stronger, and just like opportunity to wake up
in the morning and praise the Lord and pray and
just do something a little bit different.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
So why one in the morning, I mean, that's awesome.
But why one in the morning.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Well, I had to be at work at three am,
so I knew that I wake up at you know,
twelve thirty to get to Conway, you know, at one am,
to do some hills and then hit the gym up
before three AM before I to go to work.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
So, dude, that is dedication to anybody listening. If you're like, oh,
I go into work early, shut up, like you can
still get up and you can still train. I promise
you're not getting up at one High five to you, brother,
appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I want to you.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
You dropped it just now, and I feel like this
conversation is gonna be powerful. We're gonna be talking about
a prag Ninja Warrior Foundation, We're gonna be talking about
a really cool upcoming event. We're going to be talking
about the awesome things that God's doing through the Prag
Ninja Warrior Foundation, and really prayer itself. It's an amazing topic.
But before we get into those things, you just said

(01:58):
before the Tahoe to hundred and you said that, You
said that as if like that's a normal thing, And I,
first of all, what is the Tahoe two hundred? You
just finished this thing. What is the Tahoe two hundred?
So the listeners understand what just happened in your life?

Speaker 4 (02:13):
Well, it's uh, it's it's two hundred miles, it's not
one hundred, so it's double crazy. It was. It was
a very very very uh different process of my life
and journey that that I didn't know that would happen
this soon. I did twenty twenty three, I did one

(02:35):
hundred miles, or I saw a traveler and work into that.
You know, it was a lot of different things. A
couple years before I did, I did a potential to
try to do one hundred miles by myself twenty four
hours of prayer and run for twenty four hours, and
we and we prayed for the ministry. And I was
going to try to run twenty four hours. That was

(02:57):
in twenty one, twenty two, and I made it sixty
three one time, and then seventy three the other Wow,
and then and then I was like, well, I need
something to organize, something set up. But I learned a
lot from twenty one twenty two and then going into
twenty three for the Arkstall Traveler one hundred and a

(03:20):
whole meaning behind the running was the Ministry of Printage
Warror Foundation, you know, running for kids with cancer, you know,
running the kids with diseases, running kids with autism. A
very very big spectrum of what prenancial Warror is. We'll
get it that little later, but it's very deep. You know.
When we go out there, we set up you know,
where people could pray for an hour, and people could

(03:45):
pray for ten minutes, you know, while I'm running, and
we just kind of worked work strated that way. So
that was kind of the twenty one twenty two big
thing was like pray for twenty four hours and the
arkstyle travelers a little organized, but I still had twenty
four hours of prayer. I didn't know. I thought it
would take me a little bit longer than twenty four
hours for the one hundred miles, but you know, I

(04:05):
was like, okay, But everything you learn stuff in life
through the process nutrition and you know, training plans and
people that come in your life to kind of kind
of guide you a little bit. And I didn't have
a lot of guiding back then in twenty twenty two,
but twenty three I had had had people that was
with one to come along and pace me, and they

(04:28):
understand the cause, they understand the prayer, and I had
twenty four I had twenty four people set up to pray,
and I had four extra at the end just touse
it may take me twenty eight and it did take
me twenty eight hours to finish one hundred miles. So
started that race really well. The training was really awesome.

(04:49):
Throughout the race. About mile forty it kind of shut down,
so I knew I was at a certain point in
my training where I just basically walk from forty well
fifty five to one hundred and I made it across
the finish line am in. But the prayers set up
and the people following the journey was absolutely astonishing for

(05:12):
that race, and it was it was really cool just
to kind of see, you know, like Lori Lafferty, she
always prays first and kind of hear her story. Her
daughter Madeline passed away with cancer, and she had a
really unique story during that because the previous year she
prayed the first time during the first hour of twenty

(05:37):
two and twenty three in between that her daughter passed away,
and in the ministry of Pretty word was hard because
these kids die of cancer and it affects the family greatly,
so that in that process of me setting her up
for the first prayer person because she prayed with me before,

(05:58):
and I remember her prayers in twenty twenty two, you know,
and she she called me that day and we pray
with She prayed with me, and she said, I'm like,
you know, I'm there, I'm your errand I'm lifting your
arms up as you continue to praise the Lord and
glorify him and and and and finishes finish this race.

(06:19):
And but twenty three is a little different because I
never contacted her, but I put her in in that
position to pray. But uh, months later I contacted her
finally and she talked to me because she lost her daughter.
I was giving her some space and uh, I said, uh, hey,
how you doing. And she finally contacted back and she said, well,

(06:39):
I just want this is pretty deep right here. This
is the ministry that we're in, she said, She said,
you sent the you sent the schedule to pray on Friday.
I sent specific like what we're praying for, and you know,
God be the glory, you know, praying for the ministry,
a praise the warrior, specific things we're praying for that

(07:00):
on that day. But I didn't know she was going
through all this. I know she's gone through a lot,
but she said on Friday, when she she got the
schedule to pray, she she planned to take her life
that night. So and she decided to flush the pills

(07:20):
and all that stuff. And she told me this two
months after the race. Wow. So so it was just
it was just God be the glory, just the opportunity
for me to reach out at that point in time
for that. So a lot of amazing stories like that.
But I did that race and then twenty three, like

(07:40):
I said, I finished, I was very very I injured
myself and just a lot of different things that happened
with that that race, particularly because I mean it was
just like it was cool because he had had a
lot of support, but it really shut me down for
three months afterwards.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
Well, you said, you said you you had from fifty
five ish to the end, so it sounds like something
happened that kept you from running.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
What happened?

Speaker 4 (08:06):
I mean, my legs in general were like like pretty
much rubbery, and I mean that lack that asked to
build up or what do you want to call it
in my legs are just like it just like I
could walk, but running was not an option, and I
knew it was. At some point I was walking fine,
and I was going at a good pace, and I

(08:28):
had a pacer there kind of talking me in all
the way through. It's good to have people in your
life that encourage you and motivate you and guide you
in the right direction. And that's that's the purpose of race,
you know, purpose of life. You know, trying to make
it to the finish line with Christ obviously, but people
in your life come in there, and just so he

(08:50):
plugged in, and then the little Alan Stone plugged in,
and then Nickey Meeks plugged in the last fifteen and
we made the visial praise the Lord and uh so
so so twenty four was was like, you know, thinking
like what to do next and so like that that helped.
I helped a lot of people. I suppo as I

(09:11):
started run club in Greenbrier. You know that's available to
anybody in Green Brier. It's we started a group and
we got pretty six or seven, pretty faithful people running
the group. One person, Amanda, decides she was a run
a marathon. I got to help her finish her first
marathon and she doubted herself so much to get in
that race, and and and she did it, you know,

(09:32):
and in our runs we would run and in midpoint
we would pray, you know, and and that prayer helped
her life turn around, for her to follow the Lord
more as well. Amazing, She's got an amazing story, Amanda,
and love her some, Amanda Rooney. She's been such a

(09:52):
beacon light in my life. But at some point we
need people in our lives to guide us in that
right direction. And I didn't even know, you know, I said,
you know, I said, we useduld pray, you know, halfway,
and we're going to run back. And as you said,
I'm gonna pray while we run, and prayed that prayer,
and her life completely turned around. She lost her brother.
You just don't know things in people's lives, and you know,

(10:15):
running helps that, you know, for me to help other people.
So she did. And then and then bj Herndon he
did the Arksaw Traveler one hundred and twenty four and
I got to pace him for forty miles. Sixty on
felt a lot better than my hundred, but he it

(10:36):
was a hot, hot day. My hundred was cool. His
hundred was really really really hot. So but he finished
just just over twenty four hours, almost twenty to twenty
four hours. He did really amazing. So so twenty four
was a twenty three was a good you know, help people,
you know, finish the races year for me in general,

(10:56):
and this guide people and direct people in the run
club and some about that. So so yeah, twenty four
came and man, so June of twenty three it came
up for Tahoe two hundred. It's like two hundred miles,

(11:17):
that's crazy, but it's in Tahoe. I could convince my
wife probably to go to Tahoe because we've been there
twice before and she loves Tahoe. So I was like,
that's a good race for that. But then June thirteenth
is the date for Tahoe two hundred and for twenty

(11:38):
twenty four, and June thirteenth is the anniversary or Praying
Injin Warrior, so so Praying Nja Warriors started on June thirteenth.
At six thirteen am, I was trained for a spartan race,
unmotivated to work out, and I sat there in the
parking lot. I looked at a picture a little a

(11:59):
little groom nat little girl named Emily Airs and she
had leukemia, and I said, I'm gonna start praying for
this girl right now. I'm gonna color mosuar. She's me
by motivation. And it turned into a foundation from twenty
sixteen to twenty twenty oh one, in twenty five, aren't we?

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (12:22):
Yeah, one in twenty five? What am I talking about?

Speaker 2 (12:24):
So two hundred mouse is a long way?

Speaker 4 (12:27):
Yea twenty twenty four, the decision for to do it
for twenty twenty five?

Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah, okay, so yeah, yeah, So so the it just
so happened that that the Praying Ninja Warrior Foundation date
in twenty twenty five, it's anniversary date was the same
as the anniversary date that started in twenty sixteen.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Is that correct?

Speaker 4 (12:50):
Yes, sir?

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Okay, all right, So I want to I want to
dig into the Tahoe two hundred a little bit before
we get into what the what the found, how the
foundation started?

Speaker 2 (12:58):
What I mean you started? You kind of that described
it just now.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
But but dude, I'm going to say this because as
a listener or watcher right now, I don't I don't
want any eyes to glaze over because you are describing
running one hundred miles as if it's normal, like as
if it's just like a thing that people do sometimes.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
You know, Hey, I was I was pacing people for
a marathon. That is great. You know my one hundred
was cold. His one hundred was hot.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Like you're talking about this, But but I want people
to understand what when Nick says my one hundred, he
means that he has committed to a one hundred mile
race and then completed said race come hell or high water.
Literally it body mind spirit, like I'm going, I'm going
to do this thing. And and as I understand it,
you're not doing it for the purpose of seeing whether

(13:49):
or not you can do it, which I imagine is
part of the discovery process. But you're doing it because
you have you have a very deep part for prayer.
You're you're holding space for the things that you feel
God has has laid in your life to pray for
it specifically, it sounds like sick children and their families,
and you're also making space for individuals to support you

(14:11):
through prayer during the duration of whatever said race that
you're doing.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Do I have that right?

Speaker 4 (14:18):
It's pretty spot on. Brother.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
Okay, Okay, So to the listeners and watchers, if you
glazed over at any point in the last twelve twelve minutes.
I need you to go back, and I need you
to listen, and I need you to understand that that
Nick is not talking about like walking one hundred miles
over five days.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
He's not talking.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
About like some hoorah marathon thing that people I'm sure
some people do whatever, but that's not the driving impetus
for what Nicks up to and in describing for us
how he got to this place where he's going to
run two hundred miles and you've done it June thirteenth,
that was at the time of this recording.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
That was a month ago.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
That he got it in his mind and heart and
in a spirit that I'm going to complete a two
hundred mile race for the same purpose that I completed
one hundred mile race in the past. So that's where
we're standing right now, two hundred miles. I can't I
have a hard time convincing my wife that the death
by five k is a fine idea. You and I

(15:19):
met there by the way, that's where you and I
first got to high five, shake hands stuff. And so
I'm with a group of guys for the listeners who
didn't know. I participated death by five k. Interestingly, in
the same spirit I had. Every five k was dedicated
to a purpose of prayer in the community that I
was a part of it. I invited people to be
a part of it because I believe in the power prayer,
and I pray a lot when I run, Like the

(15:42):
majority of the time that I pray is when i'm running,
so that I'm doing this thing. And then Nick comes
and you know, for me, thirty miles is a long way.
We're running ten five k's, which is about thirty miles,
and I'm hearing from him about his one hundred minds
and that there's a two hundred mile coming in his future.

(16:02):
And I'm thinking, like, that's absolutely insane. Like no offense, buddy,
but that's absolutely insane. So how do you convince your
wife that you're going to go to Tahoe with her
and run two hundred miles and that that's gonna be
okay and that that's good.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
I'd love to I'd love to hear that.

Speaker 4 (16:23):
She was afraid I was gonna die. I mean literally,
she you know, she worries about me, you know, out
of these big runs, and you know, because I mean
Arksaw Traveler to Tahoe elevation wise is twenty thousand more elevation.
You know, it's in you know, very very dry, no humidity,
which is great, but it's just an environment that I

(16:45):
don't know, it's going to be very different. It's gonna
be twenty eight hours a hundred, it's going to be
around eighty eighty three to you know, ninety five hours.
That was my schedule plan to do.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
It's like that, right, it's about four days.

Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean yeah. So so as you know,
I prayed before I talked to her because I wanted
her to feel comfortable doing this, because you know, this
is she's gonna go. She's gonna she's gonna be there
with me, she's gonna pace me, my my two kids,
Parker twenty three, Mackenzie twenty two, fixing the me this month.

(17:23):
You know, they helped out. Had Parker just set up
to pace me a little bit in the race.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
Is just your thing and there on board, it's yeah,
it's a family, it's a family endeavor.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
Yeah, absolutely. And then and then I'm like, I've got
to take people with me besides myself and and Bjay,
which he said, if I get into Tahoe two hundred,
which is a lottery pick to get into pick, you
actually got to be picked from a lottery.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Are you serious?

Speaker 4 (17:50):
Yes? So so so June, so June of twenty four,
you sign up and then they lottery pick you, and
Nick up Chill's name got picked to get into the race.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
I was like, how many how many people get to
run this race?

Speaker 4 (18:06):
Three hundred people get to get selected, and so my
name got picked, and I'm like okay. And then and
then you pay for the race. I don't know what
to say. How much it costs to get into the race?
Six sixteen, sixteen hundred dollars to get into the race.
But and then the travel expenses are fi stuff like that.

(18:26):
But that's crazy at itself. But then you're about to
go go run two miles that potentially you might not
finish because because last year's twenty fours it was fifty
to fifty one hundred and fifty people one hundred and
fifty finished, undred fifty. That's a pretty big gap.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
That's a huge gap.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
So so my mind, obviously I started in prayer of like,
so I convinced my wife Tahoe's a great place. She
loves Tahoe. So but then I'm at the look, I
got to figure out how to train from from June
twenty four to June twenty.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Five, you have a year to get ready to run
two hundred miles.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
So and you know, I learned a lot in the past,
from nutrition, to training plans, to this and that. But
I met a guy through Facebook named Wes Ritner. He's
done so this is gonna blow people's minds. He's won,
He's ran twenty two hundred mile runs. He's fifty eight
years old. Met on Facebook, we connected, We did a

(19:28):
little face call kind of like this, and he said, well, like, well,
what are you gonna do? How you gonna do this?
I said, I don't know. I'm gonna run two of miles.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
I didn't even want to tell me.

Speaker 4 (19:37):
So he he was a god sent to come in
my life and basically basically send me everything that I
needed to complete two hundred miles. Could I probably could
have came up with a plan and a structure for
the journey. Yes, I could pray and all that stuff

(20:00):
and get people set up to go. But he orchestrated
something that that I didn't know because the hill strides
and and the tempo runs and just this, the in this,
the schedule in itself was perfectly aligned to train my
body to be able to get to elevation and the

(20:21):
altitude and the things that was going to come about.
He told me everything that was going to come well.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
So there's I don't I don't mean to interrupt your
story because I want to. I want to start right
back there. But what came through my heart just just
now is a biblical principle. And this there's a in
in kings. There is a passing of the mantle of profits,
so to speak, from Elijah to Elisha, and and there
is you know, Elijah goes through his his showdown with

(20:49):
with Ahab and Jezebel.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
He he uh.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
I actually talk about it in the devotional that I'm publishing.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is a
snack and a nap, you know. He's he goes through
a showdown, He's he wants to die under the bush,
and and God's like, no, I'll send you an angel.
Here's some bread, take a nap, you know. And then
and then he goes to the mountain. He goes through
all this stuff. But then he meets a young man

(21:14):
named Elisha, and and throughout his trials, one of the
things that Elisha wants from Elijah is a double portion
of his spirit, is what he asks for. And and
Elijah's like, hey, I can't give that to you, but
if God wants you to have it, you'll be there
when when he comes to get me.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
And so so when when.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Elijah is taken up into heaven, Elishah, what he has
left of Elijah is his mantle. And and today you
know a mantle linguistically means something along the lines of
the burden of leadership and the knowledge of how to
execute it right. And and that it sounds to me
like sure, I mean, I guess you could have tried.

(21:55):
It might have been unwise. You could have tried to
do this first two hundred on your own. You might
have done it.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
But but having somebody who's been there and.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
And at least in some form of fashion understands your
heart behind why you're doing this, to support you one
hundred percent and say, hey, man, I've run twenty of these.
Here's here's what I would tell you to do if
I had it to do all over again. Right, that's
a very, very biblical idea, and I think it was
wise and humble of you to seek some help.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
He stripped it out really well, and uh it was
and like I said, the training itself and what he
put me on woollie hollow. Uh they carved out a hill.
Uh have the little swift backer there, but it's just
the hill that goes up. And I did that up
and down, up and down so many times throughout that year.

(22:41):
And went to Mountain Ebo and you know, woke up
at twelve am and and and did so many so
many hill repeats. But it you know, and he put
and he put me in perspective because I had a
few races lined up and I did. I did love
it in February and Uh, I hurt my t band

(23:03):
and some of the pain I went through was through
the training was was was very I guess happens when
you're training that hard for stuff. But then you place
people in your life that really help you. Tom Broom,
a chiroproactor that helped me. He's out of a process

(23:24):
fitness and Greenberg. Uh. Stacey Stacey Campbell massage therapist, very
very fantastic person and dating a very amazing person as well.
Andy Brew. Uh, she helped me so much. And then
a pt out of Little Rock Kara and Logan Blue Rose,

(23:45):
so I had them on speed dial. Uh, come and
see this, and and each one helped me in different
areas to get to get my training was supposed to be.
But but that that year was was was very you
know when I trained these usually in the morning so
I could spend time with my family the afternoon and
stuff like that. And you know, I had to work

(24:06):
twelve hour shifts and but but training two hours before
I go to work and you know, an hour after.
But I didn't. I didn't do a lot of miles
like in a row, like you know, eighty miles, ninety miles,
one hundred miles. I did more just really small technical
things to help build my legs and my my achilles

(24:28):
and my hamstrings and my quads yep. Because I mean,
like one thing he told me to do was like
walk up a hill, sprint down, Walk up a hill,
sprint down, walk up a hill, sprint down. It builds
your abductors, which which helps your quads. And I had
so much quad pain in my in my previous races
that I think that's what set me like I couldn't

(24:49):
run anymore. So so building building them small little foundational things,
you know, it was very smart laying the foundation and
then building there upon and then learning, you know, the
nutrition part. And he helped me nu nutrition a little
bit you as well, And I kind of took my whole,

(25:11):
my whole, you know what I learned in the past.
And if you don't eat in a fifty one hundred
and two in a mile race, you're gonna die. I mean,
everything's gonna fall apart. And it has and I've I've
I felt that pain before and I sat there, you

(25:31):
know where I didn't complay one hundred miles, which I
was trying to do, you know, crying because I did,
I didn't complete it. But but then you learn from
from those from those times were just like you, you
have to do this better, you know, and your Christ
you have to do these certain things. So you're not
gonna go if you don't pray, if you don't read

(25:52):
your Bible, if you don't do them simple things, you're
not gonna grow and bear fruits for God's glory. The
same same with you know, the running. I mean, if
you don't feel your body, if you don't do these.
If you don't train, ride, if you don't if you
don't set these, you know, it's it's there's motivation. And
my wife was praying his Way Foundation, you know, you know,

(26:13):
praying for nine hundred kids each and every day that
I woke up, I prayed for specifically. I run for
the specifically. But there also has to be the little
disciplines and that teaches people because you see these kids
fighting cancer, they had so much discipline. It's crazy, like
like they're in pain, but they're fighting. They're fighting a
way bigger battle than me. So I'm just coming alongside

(26:35):
of them and to supporting them, giving a platform and uh,
just continue to move forward. But there has to be discipline.
There has to be you know, there has to be
a sense of motivation, but there has to be a
sense of direction, a sense of purpose. And it just
continued to to to migrate towards that as the year
went on, and you know, just just just the pain

(26:57):
of the training and uh, just the learning. And it
got to the day and of course we flew down there.
We had a week before just kind of hang out
with the family because we knew the race was coming.
And then the race started June thirteenth. We checked in
on the on the twelfth and walked up there and
I was scared to death, just just everybody's there. You

(27:20):
got to check it, bag is in, You had to
talk to the safety team, you had to like you
got to like you got to do a mandatory bag check.
You have to have all this stuff in your bag.
The bag weigh twenty pounds. On the day of the race.
You yeah, all this stuff you had to carry, you know,
you had to go get your your tracker, you had
to get Yeah, you had to do everything that day.

(27:40):
And it was like, this is this is this is
I've been ready so much to get to that start
line because all the training is yere. So I'm just ready.
I'm just really start this race.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Let's go. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
And I talked to a few people and you know,
just kind of see how they were feeling. Everybody's everybody's
pretty anxious and nervous and just like, thing, man, let's
do this. You know. You know, the one guy came
up to me, he says, I'm a preacher. You know.
I see you got our shirt that says prayer on it.
He said, I'll pray for you, man. So many opportunity
to show Jesus Christ to people on these races. So

(28:13):
it was really cool that he did that. And I
met this guy, even Chuck from Michigan, and I said, hey,
I said, I'm wanting to run this with somebody. And
I said, if I see you on the day of
the race, I may, I may tag with you for
a little while. What pace you're going to go? He
was kind of he was kind of saying, okay, I
kind of had I had a structured plan what I
was going to do. That was my plan, but you know,

(28:34):
I was going to go home my body felt any
of whom. So on the day of race we get
up there actually just just really confident. Just just I
mean the people that started praying for this race and
during this race was was the most amazing thing that
I seen. I mean, prayer changes people's lives. I mean,

(28:58):
especially the person praying, you know, the request, you know,
it's a constant requests to the Lord, you know, for
for what we're praying. But we had specific prayers and
we had thousands of people praying. It was amazing. So
on that day, sitting in the start line, I was ready.
I didn't know what I was going to face. There

(29:18):
was a lot of unknowns. It was way different than
the hundred. But we was going to do this the
support for the Glory of God. And we was aing
to go to the finish line. And I found Chuck
from Michigan. I'm like, cool, dude's let's do this. So
so I don't know how the pepeople to get in

(29:40):
this race. So I started the race. They did a
loop around the parking lot and it kind of broke up,
broke the bottleneck going into the trail, and we started,
We ran, we walked, we just we just kept going.
Commerce Satan people come up. I usually tell everybody about
Jesus and how you tell everybody about the ministry, you know,
everybody I talked to, and uh, it just just to

(30:04):
keep people, you know, if they don't know Jesus, they're
gonna know them if they're.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Gonna running with you.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
So so let's say I'm I'm some random dude who
what runs up next to you and and I say, hey,
I see you're praying in your warrior shirt, Like what
is that?

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Could could you could you fill us in as as
if we were a runner beside you?

Speaker 4 (30:25):
Yeah, uh yeah, we're running. Uh, we're sweating a little bit.
We're we're or like this is crazy, you know, explain
where they're from, where I'm from, you know, And I
just started telling about the ministry. You know, it's started
being thirteenth. It was about a little girl named Emily. Uh.
It started with her. It built into Emily, Elijah, and Evelyn,

(30:50):
the three E's. They all they all get a bon
Mot transplant and Duke Hospital and kind of branch off
from there. I was, I was, I was doing a
spot race for them. I was about six kids.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
How did how did you know about these children?

Speaker 1 (31:06):
Like?

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Where are their names coming from? In your life at
that time?

Speaker 4 (31:11):
Just I mean just those particular ones. Was was was
through uh Stacey, Uh, those three the three E's, but
building to two more kids. How how I got on
a Praying nine Warrior? Was Praynuice? Where your foundation was? So?

(31:35):
So yeah, I finished spartan race. I was gonna I
was going to asked Emily. I said what was next?
And she said, get on American Ninja Warrior. I tried
to get on the show. I didn't get the show,
but I got the name Praying Ninja Warrior. So so
that's where that's where the Prey and Ninja Warriors thing

(31:58):
took off, and twenty eighteen July fifth it turned into
a foundation. We had about seventy kids on the team then.
So each kid is a little different. Through Facebook, through
through moms or dads, you know, asking to pray for
their kids on Facebook, contact to me. We have a

(32:18):
prayagel Warrior dot com. People go email me say pray
for the kid, and it just way different ways to
connect to the foundation. But now, from twenty sixteen to
twenty twenty five, we pray for nine hundred kids around
the world, all different kinds of cancers, all differ kinds

(32:42):
of diseases, and it was it was like a stepping
stone to more and more kids. And how do we
pray for these kids? Obviously for healing for the cancer.
You know, once they pass away, it's extremely hard on
the parents in a lot of different ways, so we
support them. I like to meet the parents, uh, And

(33:07):
we met a lot of parents doughout the past. You know.
I met Jordan in California. That was amazing. He was
eleven years old, he had the the IPUG he passed
away and and I'd be telling these runners like stories
of of of of Jordan's and and and uh, just
just you know what they meant to me, and and

(33:27):
and and Reno when I when I flew into a Reno,
I met Lynn Hissing. Her daughter Katie Hissing had ewing
tircoma for for seven years. And he passed away, uh
last year, And but I got to meet her, you know.
And just I went to Indiana last year and baptized Carter. Uh.

(33:51):
He was six years old, and he passed away six
months after I baptized them. Yeah, just different opportunities to
connect the fai was in different ways. Each each family
is a little different, sometimes on the spiritual sense or
just just to be their sense. So and and we
don't force anybody to do anything sure that they don't

(34:14):
want to do. We just want to love him like
Jesus would and be there for him. And in a
time of need.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
And uh, and you don't know this about me, but
we lost my niece, her name's Izzy Estina to glioblastoma.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
He was two years old.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
And the prayers prayed prior to that in both within
the family and then in in I would say in
support of the family. There was a time in my
life prior to her death that I would have told
you I was an atheist. I was not a militant atheist.

(34:54):
I was not a I was not against the faith,
but I I wasn't sure what to think about things.
And so you know, in my heart and mind, God
wasn't there. But it was through praying for a miracle
for her death, right, you know, to prevent her death,
and then the praying and the grief after that brought

(35:15):
me closer to God's heart and actually ultimately, ultimately was
a big part of my conversion from atheists atheism to Christianity. Okay,
and I say that because you don't know that about me,
But but there is a there is a there's something
deep and powerful about one the unity of prayer for

(35:38):
a specific person, the petitioning of the Father. Uh in
my own heart and mind, if I'm praying for somebody
and and I really want God's ear, God draws near
to the broken hearted.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
But he also.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
He also I don't know exactly how this works. And
I don't mean this to be a theological discussion. You're
you're a guy in the trenches doing the thing I
don't like. Ivory Tower Christianity very much.

Speaker 4 (36:04):
They have.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
They've got to you've got to mess with theology a
little bit.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
But I don't know exactly how to articulate this, but
I know that when I'm in prayer for someone else
and I am petitioning the ear of the Father in
his throne room, if there's anything in me that is
unworthy or or.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Double minded or or wrong, it's almost.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
Like he teaches me to deal with that first before
I can bring before I can bring this thing to
his heart. Not that not that his ears are closed
unless you're perfect or anything like that, but that it's
been a real experience of mine too to see that
that praying for somebody else deeply affects the way that

(36:49):
I pursue my own faith walk. And then you can
see answered prayer, sometimes in the way that you want,
which you know, praise God, and then sometimes prayers answered
in the way you don't really want, and it feels difficult,
but at the same time it teaches you to accept
the will the Father come what may. And I don't

(37:13):
say that in the leadst bit, the least bit with
light words. That's very, very difficult, and our family losing
Izzy was the most traumatic and difficult thing that our
family has ever been through. But at the same time,
God brought peace and goodness from that situation in our life.

(37:35):
And so so I say that out loud, to say
that to one to connect on that front, because I
see what you're doing and understand the power of it.
But two, it brings me to a question, and I
think it's a question worth asking. When you bring the
names of these children in the foundation and you say, hey,

(37:57):
we're praying for this, there's joy when the prayers are
answered joyfully, but there's also a lot of sorrow and
suffering that come from bringing those petitions earnestly to the
Father and then saying, hey, that that's not his will
right now. And and that's hard. That's a hard thing,
and a lot of people turn away from that. A

(38:19):
lot of people don't want to face that. But but
there there is an element of pain to this, this process,
And and I wonder if if you would care to
comment or speak on on how God's taught you to
walk and run in that pain, because it's not easy,
but it's a necessary part of the process.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
Oh that's that's deep, you know. Ibout ask me, how
do you how do you, how do you pray for
these kids? I mean, we got super close to families
that that that lost the kid with cancer. But but
and I think prayers upholding thing that kind of keeps
you going, and it keeps you in red diressing because
you have a person relationship Jesus Christ, and that keeps

(39:03):
you driven and motivated to continue you to because you
bear people's burdens and and the weight is so heavy.
Sometimes I got a twenty pounds back pack on my
on my pack, you know what I'm carrying, and two
hundred miles. But you know the weight of losing a

(39:24):
child is so tremendously hard. You know when you when
you come to the family, you know, like what I
call Jordan's mom, you know, you know, it's just like
it's a holy spirit driven conversation because because it's you

(39:47):
don't want to say things to affect them, to make
them go in another direction, but you really really want
to listen to them. Listening is so important because obviously
when you speak to God yes or no, and he says, wait,
but the listening and be still didn't know that I'm
God and waiting for that right moment to say exactly

(40:11):
what is what needs to be said is probably the
most thing that I've seen in the ministry of talking
to families. And I'm not some super counselor got some
big degree or some theological degree, but I've had the
experience of setting with families. After Savannah died, she was

(40:33):
from spring Hill, right down the road. I led her
to the Lord, I baptized her, and her mom asked
me to do the funeral and we're sitting at the
funeral home or anniversaries July twentieth in a few days,
seven years of her passing, and that was the closest

(40:54):
one to the ministry. We pray for the kids and
families that for the illnesses we invest in there, we
invest in their lives and we hope for the future,
which is financial, but also Jesus Christ and uh, sitting
at that funeral home with mom across the table, making

(41:17):
a decision to bury her, you know, fifteen year old
child was so extremely hard. But it's it's a process.
Nothing is going to be the same, as you know,
and I'll add is e to are prayer lists as well,
but uh, it just it just it's just being there

(41:41):
for that person because they're going to have so many
dark moments, in so many dark times. It's just I've
seen suicide. I've seen families, lucid childs. I won't go
into names, but i've seen, I've seen, I've seen them
take their lives because the pain. You know, in this life,

(42:04):
we're gonna have suffering, We're gonna have persecution. You know,
if you're get to have a golly crystal life, you're
go persecution. You know, job, you know for example, you know,
so we're gonna But but losing a child is just
another level. I mean, it's just but I don't know

(42:26):
how you know, I've preached, I've taught, I've asked for
direction for my life. God, what do you want me
to do? And he placed a little girl of my
life to know the direction that it was going to be.
And that was praying his work foundation to be In
the foundation, we have directors in Mississippi, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, in

(42:52):
Arkansas and uh but two of the families from our
foundation has lost kids the care as well. So there's
also that support system where they could support me and
help me to understand how to help families and connect
with them because they feel it. Everything you know, well,
Lenord's lost three kids. One the one the d I

(43:14):
p G. Dana, and eleven days after that lost their
daughter Lydia, and two days have to she lost another
one of her sons. So she lost three kids and
she is superwoman. But but but there is there is
a degree in there being spiritual. But but the ones

(43:35):
that don't have Christ you could you could see a
huge difference in their walk and their pain. But just
because they're Christian doesn't mean that they don't struggle every day.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
We don't mourn like the world mourns. That doesn't mean
we don't mourn.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
Right, there's there's a there's an actual physical process of
grief when when we have when we have one part
of us that that remembers, sees, loves a family member
there all the time, and then another part of us
that understands that they're not here anymore, that that they've
they've gone on to to we're not part of this

(44:17):
physical realm, and and those two things are in conflict
in grief. And so like a Christian doesn't not mourn
as a bad noble negative but Christian does it not mourn.
But there's a difference in the morning process. There's a morning.
I part of part of our story for for our
household was I was mad at God. But that was

(44:40):
weird because I was an atheist. How could I be
mad at God? Who am I mad at?

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Right?

Speaker 3 (44:45):
But in but in my prayers for her, I saw
her in the throne room of God. It's a long story,
but but long story short. I had I had a vision.
I did my own Tahoe two hundred, but it was
like Tahoe seven and I was I was very fasted,
so I didn't make it.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
I just passed out.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
But in my in my vision, and this was real.
I wasn't like a I wasn't a hardcore praying person
at the time. I saw my niece who had been
through chemo, and she didn't have any hair, and she
was very.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
Sick and stuff.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
I saw my niece seated in his lap with her
hair all back, and she was singing with the angels
the song from Psalms that says, better is one day
in your courts, Better is one day in your house.
Better is one day here than a thousand elsewhere. And
she looked at me and she said, I'm where I
want to be. And when I woke up from this vision.

(45:40):
This was three months before she passed. When I woke
up from this vision, I had the answer I did
not want, which is something like I'm not healing her here.
But it gave me peace, which is a thing only
God can do. That that God can bring peace to
an answer you don't want. That God can pre peace

(46:00):
and hope to a situation that seems so so terrible
and devastating. And I got to share that vision at
her funeral with my sister and the family, and it
brought peace to many to be able to picture and
see her that that the suffering that she was going through.
We don't know why, we don't understand it, but the
suffering she was going through was over and that and

(46:22):
that she was okay, and that when you when.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
You follow Christ, there is hope in that.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
Right, if you're not following Christ, that sounds like a
bunch of superstitious mumbo jumbo hokey strange things that people
tell themselves to delude themselves out of out of pain
and difficulty, And and it's so hard to explain that
to somebody who doesn't understand. It's so hard to That's
why it says it's it's in the gospel that the

(46:50):
truth of the gospel is.

Speaker 4 (46:52):
Is foolishness for those of those.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
Who don't believe. So so there's I'm i I'm sharing that.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
I don't intend for you necessarily to have to comment
on that, but because the work you're doing in praying
to Jowarry is one very needed I don't know if
people tell you this, I'm saying it out loud. It's
very needed in the sense that that many people shy
away from these very scary situations with children, especially where
it's it's hard to know what's God's heart, Why does

(47:21):
this happen? Like, how could how could a good God
allow this suffering?

Speaker 1 (47:25):
Right?

Speaker 2 (47:25):
That's a hard, hard, difficult.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
Painful question, but at the same time the answer being like,
you know what, I'm going to walk through this with you.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
I'm going to walk through this. I'm going to be
diligent in prayer.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
I'm going to wake up at one am and do
my hills with the child in mind that that I'm
praying for. I'm going to do this thing, and I
don't get to control the outcome, but I am willing
to walk with you in this come come, whatever the
outcome God wants, and and that is a well, that's
that's extremely brave of you and also well I imagine

(48:01):
deeply holy spirit led.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
So thank you for doing that. If somebody is listening
to this and watching this, you have an event coming
up local here at Wooster, Arkansas, Greenbrio, Arkansas for individuals
get involved. Can you tell us about what's coming up,
when it is, what it is, and how people can
get involved.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
Yeah. So two thousand and two we started foundation. So
we did five k's from twenty eighteen COVID year had
a blank heear. But we do this as a benefit
race for the Paintwser Foundation and since we other eighteen,
we've raised over one hundred three thousand dollars to get

(48:43):
the families for many things. We've bought caskets, we hair extensions,
medical bills, mortgage payments, and we get requests often to
pay these different things. But the race is set up
to raise awareness, give a platform for the for for
the kids, and there's there's pictures of the kids all

(49:07):
the way throughout the race. Uh you know, so an
opportunity for someone to pray for a family and need
uh just we have we have we usually have families
come out there and speak, you know, about their experience
and what they've gone through, and it's it's a very
very humbling, very uh very sobbering moment because they're saying

(49:30):
they lost their child, and they say why they lost
their child and what they're feeling now, and they go
very deep into that conversation. We had three speak you know,
to speak and uh just but it's in the opportunity
to get people physical and active and and and doing something,
you know, something you know that they can better their
body yet as well. But yes, September twentieth and Wooster, Arkansas,

(49:56):
we're plugging in a half marathon this year. So we're
jumping in to another realm here of possibilities for a
five k and a half marathon, and so I'm kind
of excited about that. The Green Bar run Clubs going
to be you know, orchestrating it as well, you know,
getting everything together. We got really really good aid stations

(50:18):
and really good safety through Wooster one really big hill,
so so that'll be fun for people as well, and
just just an opportunity to help the foundation and need
and help these families. I mean, so I'm really excited
about it. Getting the half marathon and I always want
to do one hundred miles, but I don't know if

(50:39):
that'll er ever go that far.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
But maybe that's a very niche market man. No, I
love it.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
I support one hundred percent. I'll be running. I'm very
excited to do so, and I would like to invite
anybody listening or watching to run with us. Let's say
you're not local and for whatever reason can't make it up.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Here is there?

Speaker 3 (50:59):
Uh, you've giving me a link for sign ups that
people can can sign up to run. Is there a
way for them to give to the foundation and support
it financially even if they're not able to be a
part of it.

Speaker 4 (51:10):
There's a donation button on the run sign up as
well as you could sign up virtually and actually do
it wherever you want.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
Oh that's so, there's no excuses. You can sign up
and run no matter where.

Speaker 4 (51:25):
You are, and you got to meddle and a show
just like everybody else, and I'll send it to you. So,
like I said, I'm really excited about that option. Like
I said, I don't really neat for whoever wants to
go run and it can do it, So, dude.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
That's amazing.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
I've done a few virtual you know, five k's, ten
k's even a half marathon because I couldn't be there,
but I wanted to support it and do it. So
I'm going to make sure that that links in the
show notes. If you're listening to this, they've been moved
by this conversation and you're like, hey, I want to
support this foundation. Maybe I want to go get active
and do that. That would be good, and I want
to pray for some kids and their families. I need

(51:57):
you to sign up. I need you to click the link.
I need you to bin, and I need you to
be a part of this. If you can do it locally,
I'll be there. I'll high five you and and run
with you. You might run faster than me. I'm not
a very fast runner, but I will do it. So
so I'm so grateful for you jumping on the podcast
with me and describing your experience. But I never actually

(52:18):
got to hear the two hundreds. So I'm going to
do like a rapid fire questioning just just a few things. Yeah,
because you know, I guess in a way, you don't
know about the two hundred until you run the two
under you get like a like a hat on you
that when you look up it says two hundreds the
new one hundred?

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Is that what it says?

Speaker 4 (52:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (52:35):
The bill there.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
Yeah, Like I'm still working on my first one hundred man.
So here's some rapid fire questions. First, did you listen
to music on this two hundred mile run?

Speaker 2 (52:51):
Was that a thing?

Speaker 4 (52:52):
I did not listen to music, But I had a
lot of good conversation with Chuck and Jason and Dalton,
all three of them d n AFT unfortunately. But you know,
later on the race just kind of I kept tagging
with people and just having conversations with people because I
think that was really helping me continue to move forward.
So talking to people, and then I will say I
ran to Wes and my one thirty seven. He DNF

(53:14):
because he had some heart problems. But he came up
the trail two miles before and my body was shutting
down because I didn't sleep for sixty one hours. And
I walked up to him and I could I couldn't
hardly walk, and he said a word that motivated me,
encouraged me to go forward to the aid station. I
asked him, asked him how he was doing, how his

(53:38):
heart was. He said, his heart is fine, and he said,
you have a good heart. And I started running and
I didn't feel no pain for two miles. It was
crazy and I was crying and I ran as fast
as I could to the aid station and got my
first nap for one hour and steak tack was my

(54:00):
wife brought me, and that catapulted my whole race changed
Perspective's amazing. I only had three and a half hours
sleep the whole ninety three hours finished in the race.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
So okay, question two, what were the physical repercussions of
two hundred miles on you?

Speaker 4 (54:18):
Like it was?

Speaker 2 (54:19):
It was?

Speaker 4 (54:19):
It was actually not bad at all. Really, I mean
I got to so I had I had a quad
ten didn't coming to my knee that hurt pretty bad.
I had blisters, but I had blister pads. My wife
doctor my feet up every aid station and changed them out,
washed my feet all that stuff. Thank you Jessica for

(54:43):
doing that. And I had. I didn't have any quad pains,
I had no pain in my legs. I developed this
stuff called Tahoe Long. It's altitude and dust mix. There's
a lot of dust out there, one hundred and ninety
so I made the fish line sipping on some water
and I made it there and I had I had

(55:05):
a call for nineteen days after Tahoe, So that was
about the worst thing that I had that the blisters
went away. Of course, I finally slept for twenty four hours.
It seemed like after the race, because I slept three
and a half hours, but I had to get on
a plane to come come back to Arkansas on Wednesday
the next day. So but by Friday I was I

(55:28):
was good. I mean, wow, I was really good. The
blisters took about Sunday to call us over and then
Monday I went to work and I didn't run for
two weeks, but I could have.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
So I don't know jack about how the body recovers
from an ultra arun but I have to say that
that sounds like a like a decent level of divine
favor and also pretty miraculous recovery, because I mean two
was no joke, man.

Speaker 4 (55:58):
The people following this, it was praise. We pulled the
eight station. Wife said, you can't imagine how many people
are praying for you right now. It's crazy how many people.
Because I went on Facebook, but I didn't like I
just kind of sent some pictures and something like that.
But but the people that was praying, that was following.
I hear stories afterwards. You know, event you know, you

(56:21):
started on Friday, I went to work, and I did
all this stuff on the weekend. I came back in Monday.
And then Tuesday, at eight am Central time, you finally
crossed the finish line. And you know, everybody surrounding me
at work and we're watching the little tracker thing. He
goes Nick, He's about to finish blah blah blah, and
had had the YouTube live and all that stuff. And

(56:43):
the amount of stories of the prayer and the support
and just just the following and just the praying for
the kids on the Prayers Word team. It was was
was was so humbling. Even Chuck would he he dnf
mile thirty two because he had Tyler lung and he
was delusional. I was a little delusional, but it wasn't
really bad. But he said, man, I left and I

(57:06):
followed you and track you and and I got to
talk to him and hear his story of how he fit,
how he did finish. But man is I mean, thank
you Jesus. But uh, it was it was humbling because
because you get unknowns, you don't know what's going to happen.
We do that in life, right yeah, and uh, like

(57:28):
what's going to happen? But when you faithfully follow the
Lord in devoted prayer and not just say that prayer
one why prayer in your mill. But prayer has changed
my life where the unknowns are are preparation for the unknown.
I mean, I'm ready to set in motion the hard

(57:50):
things because the Lord has guided me through the suffering,
through the pain, through the conversations, through the deepness. When
we pray, we paved that all the way through our lives.
We could walk, not simply through it, because the narrow
road is very difficult, but it's God guiding us with

(58:14):
a light. Because because that night I had a light
and I felt like Jesus was guiding every step of
the path, even in the night and the day, you know,
like the children are zero. I mean it was literally
he was guiding me all the way to the finish line.
And when I got to that, so everybody said, the
last fifteen, last fifty, last two miles of race is

(58:37):
fifteen hundred of elevation game. I almost ran that whole thing,
oh my gosh. But got to the top and we
had allful lot of time and kind of coasted in.
But I've got to thank you, know, all my crew.
I mean, Drew came in for forty miles from Nevada.

(58:58):
His daughter Era had has leukemia, and he came in
and supported me of hit him, supporting his daughters, supporting
the foundation, and now we have a lifelong friendship. You know.
I ran to a guy that I graduated with him
my one hundred from Arkansas, and I didn't know that,
and his daughter had had a brain tumor. Uh Tori

(59:23):
t or I and Uh. We had that conversation, me
telling about the ministry and he told me, I don't
tell a lot of people this, but my daughter was
born with a brain tumor. But she's doing really good.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Now.

Speaker 4 (59:33):
I'm just like, it's just astonishing the conversation because because
the Taler two hundred run, it's not it's a power
walking situation. There's walking, there's sleeping, there's resting, there's it's
just keep just keep going through the journey to the
finish line. But all the conversations and all the incoming

(59:55):
prayers and conversations, and I even started facetiming people at
the end because was like, these people followed me this long,
I'm gonna have a I'm gonna have a one v
one conversation showing them Tahoe, you know, while I'm walking
down this crazy mountain. It was it was just like
this is this is, this is this is. I mean,
the views and Tahoe are amazing, but the experience I

(01:00:21):
had just devoted to God. I mean, that was my music.
There you go, there you go, that was my music
the whole way, because because God was guiding the path.
I mean not in just two hundred miles my own life,
but it showed me something. And you do this a

(01:00:41):
lot too. You get away, get away from the world.
And those four those three days and twenty two hours
was devoted time for me and God to help other people.
But but for me to to continue to fill up
to help up other people. Yeah, oh man, But but

(01:01:04):
God said in emotion, got me in, got me in
the race. It was June thirteen. That was it was
like everything, everything was there, everything I felt like was
God's will for me to do this. Now, people made
out that a little bit, but it's it seemed like
that was the past my life, and I don't know
what's next.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
But the September twentieth race is next. That's that's what's next.
Man's next. As you were talking, and as we've had
this conversation, this this passage in Hebrews keeps coming to
mind in heart. I imagine you've read it a million times,
since you love to run and pray as well. However,
I don't want to mess it up, so I'm going
to read it and then I'm going to pray over

(01:01:45):
you and the American Ninjau Warrior Foundation. It's not American
praying Ninjeorria, sorry, praying Ninja Warrior Foundation. And also the
event coming up. So this is from Hebrews. It follows
after my favorite, well it's not my favorite. I love
many places in the Bible. Is one of my favorite
chapters in the whole Bible. I call it the Hall

(01:02:07):
of Faith Hebrews eleven. So we're talking about Abraham, and
we're talking about Abel, and we're talking about Moses, and
we're talking about all these people who had faith.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
And then the writer says.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
This, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great
cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us,
and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us
run with perseverance the race that's marked out before us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of
our faith, for the joy set before him. He endured

(01:02:38):
the cross, scorning its shame, and down at the right
hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured
such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow
weary or lose heart.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Can I pray for you, brother?

Speaker 4 (01:02:53):
Gonna say one thing, Yeah, have at it. One of
the ladies on the team set me that exact verse
and said, the cloud of witnesses it in her perspective
is the kids that's passed away and the praying and
shor team watching over and go out around the race.
And she lost her daughter as well. And that was

(01:03:14):
a really profound moment listened to because I had her
send it. She sent me a video. She said that
very safe, that same verse, and she said, they're they're
watching over you. You know, the ones that passed away
and from cancer, the ones you've been praying for. So
you say in that verse brings a lot of emotions up.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
So thank you and you can pray for me. Thank
you so much, Father God. Thank you so much for
this day. Thank you for the opportunity to spend time
with Nick today, and thank you for the mission that
you have called.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Him to in his life.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
Thank you that he's willing to sacrifice mind and body
in order to bring before you the families and the
children that you love and that you made and that
he's running for. Lord, but thank you for the foundation
of individuals who've come around him to support this endeavor
in effort. It's definitely not a one man's show. Definitely

(01:04:07):
couldn't be a one man show. And so Lord, I
pray you're blessing in your favor on the Praying Ninja
Warrior Foundation. God, that you would continue to bring names
and continue to bring resources so that this foundation can
bless the children that you've called them to bless in
their families. Lord, I also pray for any listening or

(01:04:30):
watching this conversation who have a child who's sick or
has lost a child to an illness.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
God, I just pray that you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
Would draw near to them. I pray that in brokenness,
as you say, you draw nearer to the broken hearted.
I pray that in their brokenness you will draw them
close heal their heart heal the bodies involved, and God,
I pray that you'll bring good from something so terrible,
difficult and devastating in our world. God, thank you for Nick.
I pray that we have a great.

Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
Run on September twentieth, and that many joined us for it.
We love you, Lord and Jesus name, Amen, Amen, awesome man,
thank you so much. And to our listeners and watchers,
I hope you will.

Speaker 4 (01:05:14):
There it is.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
There's the patch.

Speaker 4 (01:05:17):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
To our listeners and watchers, I hope you will join
us on September twentieth, whether local or virtual. The links
in the show notes and until then, you guys know
what I'm going to say. This has been coach Alex
van Houton on the Faithful Fitness podcast. Train hard, but
pray harder.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
Hey, if this episode helped you, chare it with someone
who needs to hear it, and don't forget to subscribe
and leave us a raving review so more people can
find Faithful Fitness. Oh and my dad's new devotional is
almost out now. You can grab a copy for yourself
and then join our free community at Better Day by

(01:06:00):
clicking on the links in the show notes below. We
all have a cross to carry, but it's lighter when
we do it together, so check out both links in
the show notes. Don't be a big well Bob, just
do it until next time. Don't forget. Train hard and
pray even harder.